The demand for electrical power around the world continues to grow for many reasons. The number of devices that use electricity as an energy source has increased. The number of devices or appliances within a home has also increased. There is also an increase in power requirements from one or more of such appliances. For example, an electric kettle that can boil water in a shorter amount will have a higher power than another kettle that takes a longer amount of time to boil the same volume of water. The kettle boiling water in a shorter period of time is more desirable for consumers. Other appliances consuming power in the kilowatt range can include, but are not limited to, a dishwasher, an induction stove, a water heater and a clothes dryer.
Such increased requirement poses a problem to an existing electrical grid within a household or premises. Certain factors limit the maximum power of devices to reasonable levels. In some regions of the world, such as in Europe for example, plugs that connect a device to a power outlet permit a maximum of 16 Amperes of current. A maximum power made available to a consumer (or a premise) may be fixed by contract between the consumer and the electricity provider such as a utility company. The diameters of wires in an (household) electrical grid can also determine (or limit) the maximal power that can be provided by the particular wire.
In order to avoid wire overload problems, some manufacturers of household appliances use presets for limiting the maximum power consumed by the device. These presets can be setup during installation of the appliances. Most consumers, however, are unfamiliar with electricity and lack the knowledge to correctly setup the presets.
A need exists, therefore, for systems, devices and methods for overcoming, inter alia, the shortcomings identified above.